Quote:
Originally posted by Geoduck:
Twig, I don't think there is much to debate here. Habitat issues are the root of the problem.


Hatcheries clearly are not the ideal, but in the face of poor habitat what can you do? You can fix it but mainly that takes lots of time, $s, and the discpline not to mess things up again once they're fixed.

I don't think this is practical for the near future. Do you think anyone is seriously considering removing grand coulee for the sake of salmon passage?

The question is what can be done to improve the lot of wild salmon. I certainly think that banning all hatcheries would help a little. But that would put all fishing pressure on wild fish and some runs clearly cannot withstand that.

I think the better alternative is do what we can to fix the root of the problem (ie first stop all futher habitat degradation and then improve habitat that has been degraded).

I think WTs arguement about hatcheries is BS. There positionas I understand it is that stopping hatcheries is a good idea beacuse its easier to do than fixing the habitat. I don't dispute that changing or stopping current hatchery practices might help a little but thats not at the heart of the problem. Habitat is the biggest problem by far.

Using the logic of treating minor problems first, an ER doctor when faced with a patient with a beesting and gunshot wound to the chest would treat the beesting because it is easier.

Not hard to figure out what would happen to such a patient. Likewise given WTs strategy, I think you can guess what the future might hold for salmon if we continue on this path.

This just doesn't seem like a reasonable solution.

Its about the habitat
I agree that it is about the habitat! Unfortunately, historically, most of it resides above the dams.

As for Hatcheries, historically there were runs that were specific to each and every river system. What has happened now is that we've taken a relatively small genetic pool and dispersed it into waters where they are not native, thus, we're polluting the native genes. We've managed to wipe out in only a century what has taken millions of years to refine.

So while I understand that hatcheries allow us to fish, I also understand that we've become potentially short sighted in that we are unwilling to give up our fishing in the face of allowing the native species to become extinct.

So where do I stand? I still don't know, but I do know that we as a species have historically made poor choices due to our arrogance when it comes to mother nature, ie, putting in dams in the first place!